Childhood Memories
by KagamineToxins
Summary: What they once were is gone. But occasionally Yuuko likes to reminisce.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own BakaTest. Just the insane ideas it brings up. I really don't know where those things come from. Also, Yuuko is such a bully.**

_"I believe that the human soul is a little bit like fruit cake," Yuuko muttered out of the blue. It was a bit closer to the holiday seasons, which was probably the reason for the analogy. Regardless, it was something that her twin brother couldn't comprehend._

_ "Eh? Sister, why is that?"_

_ Hideyoshi noticed that she seemed a little distraught, or perhaps angry. But he was also a terribly naïve child, and he knew that his judgment had been wrong before. Even concerning his twin, the one he was closest to, he often misinterpreted emotions. Yuuko knew that too; she knew all of his weaknesses._

_ His sister sat on the floor across from him, with her fists clenched and a very genuine look of childish fury about her. She sometimes did and said these silly, random things before taking what she really wanted. Just like the fruit cake comment, it was something Hideyoshi couldn't understand, and Yuuko knew he couldn't just by the look on his face. He was terribly easy to read._

_ There was a pause before she replied, "By the name, it sounds yummy, doesn't it? Everyone likes fruit. But when you actually look at it, it's disgusting. Eating it is even worse; no one really likes fruit cake."_

_ Who knew that a petty little argument from her parents could bring on such deep, philosophical thoughts from a child? The future Yuuko would scoff with embarrassment at this 'logic'._

_ Young Hideyoshi didn't even need to scoff. Despite being lazy, clueless, and a bit simple, Hideyoshi was still far more open-minded to other people's feelings. "I don't think that's true," he replied, both truthful and innocent._

_ Yuuko's anger was already softening. She was eight years old – she couldn't stay mad at anything for long – but having Hideyoshi to talk to always helped. He calmly reasoned through everything, rarely ever showing signs of anger. It was an effective remedy to her own brashness._

_ He was also an idiot._

_ "I think it's more like Father's cooking," he continued. "It looks gross on the outside, but inside, it's actually very good for you!"_

_ He was still too young to have realized that Father's 'cooking' was the exact reason they weren't allowed to have guests over for dinner, and the reason he was able to stomach things any normal eight year old wouldn't tolerate. _

XxX

_"Just do it!" Yuuko snapped impatiently. _

_ She'd already wasted five of their precious recess minutes arguing with him, and his resolve was breaking fast. Still, Hideyoshi was reluctant, wondering if letting go of his lunch was worth not getting pummeled by his sister. He'd be hungry all day, and he knew that Yuuko wasn't about to give up any part of her sandwich. In fact, he was pretty sure she'd already eaten it._

_ They stood, far away from the other children, by a place where the chain link fence broke off into the rest of the world. The hole was not the result of some abuse or destruction, it was just there – simply a place where one part of the fence had never been connected to the other. It was located by the street corner, where any child could just walk off if they so pleased, but risk getting in huge trouble if they did. Well, Yuuko didn't want him to walk off, she just wanted him to dump his lunch in the mailbox on the street corner._

_ Hideyoshi looked back and forth between sister and lunch several times, resignedly, before reluctantly obeying. And when he returned, he stood with his shoulders slumped, looking a bit depressed. Yuuko actually felt bad for him, even though it was her idea._

_ "Why did you have me do that?"_

_ Because she was curious? She wanted to see what would happen, if maybe this would somehow end up on television or in the newspapers because everyone was getting sticky, peanut butter and jelly mail? Suddenly, Yuuko didn't feel so good about receiving international recognition anymore._

_ "Because my brother deserves only the best for lunch," she lied swiftly. "You have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day. It's getting old, right?"_

_ "Actually-"_

_ "Yeah, I thought so. Look, I bet Ishii's willing to give up her lunch for you. Let me go talk to her!"_

_ Hideyoshi desperately grabbed her arm before she got away. "Sister, you have the same thing I do every day. And you really don't need to take someone else's lunch for me. Please."_

_ Yuuko kicked at the dirt guiltily. That was what she had been thinking, but it was hard to argue with her twin brother when he was pleading like that._

_ "Fine," she huffed, as if he were asking something big of her. "There's probably a candy bar or something in my bag. We'll go get that."_

_ And then he smiled at her, as if that were the greatest thing anyone had ever done._

XxX

_The first time the Kinoshita twins stayed up late, unsupervised, watching a scary movie, Yuuko had deeply regretted it. She could tell her brother was shaken too, but she was the one who felt absolutely horrible. They hadn't even finished it, scrambling to turn the television off sometime before the second murder, right when the madman was revving up his chainsaw._

_ Even while brushing her teeth, the image of his face – expressionless, save for a malicious glint in his eyes – stayed fresh in her mind. The sound of his laughter kept replaying; the screams of that first innocent victim; the disgusting, twisted sound from the time she had closed her eyes as he brought the chainsaw down on the back of his first victim . . ._

_ They'd done it because they wanted to feel more adult. Instead, Yuuko thought she just felt even smaller, and scared to death on top of it. Without realizing it, she'd followed her brother into his room. The thought of sleeping alone terrified her, but she was too proud to admit it._

_ "Scary movie, wasn't it?" she asked idly, trying her very best to sound as if she'd been bored. She doubted she'd succeeded – and even if she did, Hideyoshi would know better, since they'd been screaming together._

_ "It . . . It was," he admitted._

_ He already lay in bed, with the covers pulled halfway up. Yuuko sat down on the edge of the bed, waiting impatiently for him to get the message, since she wasn't about to say it herself._

_ "Wouldn't that be scary," she continued. "I-if someone were to really come after us like that? Of course, it wouldn't really happen, but . . . if it did?"_

_ "I wouldn't want to be alone," he agreed. "Sister, are you scared now?"_

_ She ducked her head quickly. This was Yuuko, the tough twin. She didn't like this feeling. But slowly, almost inaudibly, she heard herself admitting, "Yes."_

_ "Even if you're not, I am. Sister, will you please not leave me alone tonight?" Perhaps he hadn't heard her. Then again, he probably had. It was just like Hideyoshi to do these sorts of things; he always avoided making people feel bad._

_ Despite wanting to make a big show of it – of being brave – Yuuko eagerly climbed under the covers, settling down warmly beside her brother. _

XxX

And that was supposed to be the last time it happened.

They'd grown distanced since those days, starting in middle school, when they first began to realize how they were different from one another. It was part of growing up, something they couldn't help. Yuuko retained her haughty, arrogant manner and Hideyoshi was the same as he'd always been, but it just wasn't the same anymore.

More and more frequently, Yuuko felt herself being afflicted by these childhood memories. Many of them were of smiles, or at least times that didn't end with tears and broken bones, but they brought with them a dull pain. A sort of longing, for something they had once had.

She stared at her brother now, at his sleeping form tucked away in the blankets, and felt that longing now. In a way, it felt the same as that movie, and she could almost imagine Hideyoshi saying, _"Sister, are you scared?"_

Yuuko mouthed her answer silently, _"Yes"_. She was scared – of these thoughts she had, of the uncertain future between them, of the confusion she was going through.

And in the same way she used to, she felt herself slipping under the covers next to him, seeking consolation for her fears.

**I really want to know how Hideyoshi reacts... (might add to this later).**

**As usual, writing at three in the morning dictates the weirdness, and I really should put more work into editing these stories. Does that bother anyone besides me?**


	2. Chapter 2

**In the Dya manga, Yuuko lounges around in her underwear at home. **

**Feeling sick, writing anyway. This does not bode well.**

'Bed smells so nice', Hideyoshi thought to himself as the sleepy haze in his mind began to diminish. Today is a perfect lazy morning – no school, no chores, nothing to worry about. Even if Hideyoshi was starting to wake up now, he'd just find a new comfortable position and drift back to sleep.

Until he rolled over and hit something that wasn't supposed to be there, that is.

Startled, he flew backwards, jerking the covers away from himself and the foreign object in the process. Reluctantly, Yuuko sat up to glare at him. Hideyoshi blinked a few times in astonishment, then quickly looked away as he recovered his senses. He was blushing when he spoke. "S-sis?"

It was apparent even to him that his voice wavered, and he sounded as if he were in suffering from some strange mix of fright and surprise and anxiety. There were many responses to this that he expected to hear from his twin. It would have been perfectly normal for her to snap at him, something along the lines of, "What do you want!" or "Don't look at me like that!" or some other equally abusive remark. What he didn't expect was silence, and it unnerved him.

Cautiously, he chanced a glance back at Yuuko. Her gaze was averted from him and her arms wrapped around her body, as if for comfort. She looked strangely vulnerable, and Hideyoshi had to pinch himself to make sure it wasn't a dream.

A sharp pain developed in his arm, and the skin was probably going to bruise later, but Yuuko was still sitting in front of him the next time he opened his eyes. For a brief moment after that, he wondered if he had accidentally stumbled into Yuuko's bedroom sometime last night. It seemed unlikely, and a brief glance at the walls confirmed the impossibility; those were his posters on the walls, his magazines stacked in the corner, and a completely clean desk, compared to Yuuko's, whose was usually piled with clutter. Aside from his sister, everything seemed in place …

"Sis, is something wrong?" he tried.

He didn't receive an immediate answer, and he wasn't sure if he should have expected one. Even after waiting, the silence remained like a heavy smog clogging the air. From the quick glances he was able to cast at her every few seconds, Hideyoshi could tell that she wasn't moving. He sighed grimly, unsure of what to do or what was causing this unorthodox behavior in his sister.

"You should really put something else on," he mumbled idly, without really thinking. "Even if it is our house, it's not okay to run around in your underwear …"

"That is definitely something you would say," Yuuko scoffed, though so quietly he almost didn't hear it.

" …Sis?"

Every time Hideyoshi begins to think the situation can't become anymore shocking, Yuuko does something to prove him wrong. When Yuuko finally turned to look at him, Hideyoshi thought he saw water in her eyes. Looking twice confirmed to him that he was not hallucinating, and since he was obviously not dreaming anymore, he has to force himself to accept something he thought nearly impossible – his sister was on the verge of crying. Regardless of how she's dressed, he finds himself wanting to hug her – if only his sister were as easily comforted as that.

"S-sis? What's wrong?" he questions again.

Hideyoshi is mentally running through a list of possible reasons when he hears Yuuko say something, but it comes out as barely even a squeak. He has to ask her to repeat it, even though it makes him feel guilty doing so. But he doesn't hear it the second time either, and he's afraid to ask for a third time.

"I-I'm sorry," he mumbles uncertainly, as if Yuuko might understand that he just couldn't get it.

Without warning, Yuuko suddenly lurches forward and clings to him with a stiff embrace. Hideyoshi responds instinctively, hugging her back and fretting over how tense she feels. Whatever has Yuuko worried must be fairly big, since she's never as tense as this. Just like his actions, his words come instinctively now; "Sis, I'm right here for you . . ."

Yuuko shuffles against him, and wipes her eyes with her forearm. "And will you stay there?" she mumbles shyly.

"Of course," he replies; it is an answer that requires no thought. "Sis, why don't we just … go back to bed?"

He's still confused as to what's going on, but he somehow senses that it's better not to ask. But despite what his instinct says, Yuuko tells him anyway once they've both lied down again.

"I've missed you," she says as Hideyoshi pulls the blankets back up.

"Hm? I don't understand . . ."

For a moment, Yuuko is tempted to tell him everything, and Hideyoshi vaguely thinks back to the all the time they used to spend together. But the idea is dismissed, and instead she says, "It doesn't matter. I have you back now, and that's all that counts. And I'm never letting go again."

**. . . This story was a bit rough, but not too bad. Not sure how I feel about the ending though. Opinions?**

**Writing a defenseless Yuuko is a bit weird.**


End file.
